Long Distance: My Ironic Viewing Of “Catfish”
Note: This blog post contains NO SPOILERS, so go ahead and continue reading.
My Monday evening started out with a great idea. I finally had a night free from obligations or prior commitments and remembered a conversation with my good friend Ryan about wanting to see The Social Network. On the way home from work, I picked up the phone and called him to propose a trip to the movies. Although he was free, he had promised his wife that they would see the movie next weekend. He then suggested going to see “the other Facebook movie,” the documentary Catfish. Excited, I told him that I would check the movie times when I got home and instructed him to call me after dinner.
All I knew about the movie was this short TV ad for the movie. I only saw the ad air once and knew little about the details of the movie; all I knew is that I wanted to see it. Ryan is quite militant about not getting any sort of spoilers prior to viewing movies or TV shows he actually enjoys, so he didn’t have any clue what it was about. For those who haven’t yet seen the movie and plan on seeing it, I will not give you any important details or spoilers.
I looked up the movie times on Google and found that there was a 7:40 pm showing at the Rosedale Mall and a 7:45 pm showing at the Southdale Mall. For all intents and purposes, the theaters are equidistant from each other, so either one would work just fine. When Ryan called me back after dinner, I told him I hadn’t eaten and as I have mentioned before on The F.I.L.M. Army podcast, I would probably grab a Chipotle burrito to eat during the movie (highly recommended for a tasty movie-going experience). He told me he would meet me at the theater at 7:30. A great Monday night at the movies was planned!
While in the enormous line at the Chipotle across the street from the Southdale mall, I received a call from Ryan, telling me that he was at the box office and was going to head toward our theater and would flag me down when I arrived so we could sit together. I purchased my burrito, drove to the mall, found a great parking spot and headed inside. To speed up the process, I headed to the ticket kiosk touchscreen to buy my ticket. I was pleasantly surprised that movies during the week are only 5 bucks and thought to myself “5 dollar movie, delicious Chipotle, does it get any better?” I went up the escalator, down the hall, then down the stairs to the theater where Catfish as playing. The time? 7:42 pm. Right on schedule.
When I entered, the house lights were still up, so I could see everyone that was attending the movie. Ryan was nowhere to be found. Figuring that he might be in the bathroom or buying a snack, I texted him to let him know I had arrived, but I had this sinking feeling that he was not there. When I didn’t hear back from him and didn’t see him during the previews, my suspicions were confirmed; he had gone to the other theater! I went back over the details of our previous conversation, we never ended up specifying which theater we were going to go to. The lights went down and movie began.
Ryan and I watched Catfish, a documentary about a long distance relationship, at (roughly) the same time, but in separate locations. I couldn’t help but appreciate the irony in this comical turn of events.
Having seen the movie, I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend if you do choose to see it, don’t spoil it for yourself. It is the type of documentary where coming into it completely fresh will truly enhance your experience.